Day Before
We got an early start because who can sleep with sunrises like we were seeing in Terlingua? I got down two eggs, oatmeal, a banana and OJ. Our plan was to hit the packet pick up down in the state park as soon as Taryn rolled into town, so there was a bit of porch sitting and waiting while she drove in from Ft. Stockton (last minute addition as we convinced her to race on Tracie's race bib).
After she arrived, and a very quick packet pick up (loved the race director giving out the bibs and meeting each and every runner), we jumped back in the car and headed up to Big Bend National Park. Jamie, JT, Jonathon, and G had decided to go to the canyon lands elsewhere, but I stuck with the girls to do a shakeout down into the Basin to the Window. The 10Kers and Priscilla came with us, but they were just going to hike. Taryn, Jackie, and me had a great 3 mile run to the Window itself, and after obligatory pictures, we ran 1 more mile uphill back towards the visitor center before hiking the final two miles. In retrospect, maybe not the best idea the day before a race due to the fact that this was a serious uphill back (maybe around 1,200 ft gain). Either way, it was worth it because of the views, the weather, and plain and simple nature.
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| The Window |
We drove back to home for the weekend (i.e. Villa Terlingua), and I took a quick outdoor shower in 45 degree weather to warm up, and then proceeded to stuff two PB&Js, a banana, salad, and walnuts in my pie hole. I didn't realize how much the hike/shakeout run had taken out of me. The rest of the afternoon was chill sitting on the porch, and prepping for the evening. I sucked down my liter of electrolytes throughout the afternoon, and even had two beers (not my tradition, but it was good for the nerves). For the first time, the nerves weren't about what could go wrong with the race, but rather, how right it could go and how amazing the scenery was going to be. That evening, Jackie and a couple other helpers cooked an amazing pasta dinner with salad (6 pounds of wheat pasta I believe), so we had enough to feed the mass 18 person army that would be joining us for the evening. I washed dishes along with Trail Roots Rick. After food, talk, and digestion, Jamie and myself briefly spoke of race strategy, and we both had about the same plan with a few tweaks. I liked Jamie's plan a bit more though, and convinced myself to give it a whirl. Essentially sustainable marathon effort early, then lay the hurt down later in the race (he had a calculated point, but I was going to go with my gut when it was time). Either way, it was going to be an organic race. Our intentions were different, but we had a kindred idea of heading out there and laying it all out. No regrets, just use our pain thresholds/fitness to put a good hurt some people. I knew I needed to be careful not to try to abandon my race just to see if I could keep up with Jamie though (speed can be deadly :) ) Others from the crew weren't concerned as they were just going out to run and not race though. We all called it a night around 8:45 pm. My legs, which had felt tired after the time in the National Park earlier in the day, were finally at peace. I was out by 9:15 pm.
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| Villa Terlingua |
My alarm popped off at about 5:30 am. Not sure that all in the house were pleased with the early alarm, but hey, it was race day and I was ready to roll. I started putting on my race gear (which was minimal), and boiling water for oatmeal and coffee. I took down one boiled egg, one cup of oatmeal, and one banana. Enough to satisfy me. People had started milling around in the loft and Taryn joined me along with JT (both running the 30K not racing). By 6:15 am, I had all of my gear together, and had my Sweatpants and Black Eyed Pea long sleeve over my race kit. The kit included my Team Rogue Split Shorts, Adidas singlet, Rogue Beanie, Swiftwick medium length socks, Nathan arm sleeves, go to Nike Glow Gloves, and my Nike Terra Kiger Blues for shoes. I had 2 gels in my shorts zipper, one in hand, and packed a water bottle just in case (was going to make a race time decision on whether to carry a bottle or not).
By 6:30 am, it was time to go. I was waiting on one other person, but we had to pick up Trail Roots Rick from his place, so I left the other one behind for them to drive themselves. JT and me drove down the dirt road, picked up Rick, and headed 7 miles down the road to the start. Parking was easy as we were there early, and there were minimal people there for the 50 miler that had started at 5:30 am. Cold.... real cold, but not as cold as the previous morning. Race start was looking to be 38 degrees and warm up into the 40s by the end.
We had about 30 minutes left until race start once I got to the restroom. 15 minutes before, I gelled and took a few sips of water. Everyone moved back into the warm facility waiting for the start. I joined for about 3 minutes, but didn't want to get to comfortable, so I went back outside. Just enough time to size up the competition around us. Retrospectively, Jamie and me had both picked out the same guy that we thought could be a pro type with his Pearl Izumi kit on. There was also a tall lanky, for lack of a better word, kid who looked like he was going to be a beast. In my limited trail experience though, there are a lot of great racers hiding in the wings. That was my hope for the day for myself. With 5 minutes left, I stripped down to my race kit, and went to the start line. A couple minutes later, Jamie joined me, and just stood beside. G briefly joined us to wish us luck, and then milled back into the crowd. In the minutes leading up to the race, the announcer made reference to the the lanky kid from Alpine, and referenced his impending win coming today. He didn't reference him by name, but it was obvious. I knew the kid was in deep shit with Jamie on the course.
The Race
I went out exactly how I wanted to at very comfortable Marathon Effort. I hung behind the main group of 5 which included Jamie, the Alpine Kid, the Pearlizumi, and two others that were intent on running a slightly faster pace than I was willing to maintain early on. By mile 2, four of them (Alpine, Jamie, the eventual masters winner hereafter known as "Masters", and one other) were not within immediate reach, but were within sight on some of the descents. They had a good 2 minute cushion on me. I figured Jamie was either leading, or close behind, padding about a minute a mile on me (I turned out to be right as he finished about 19 minutes ahead of me). I was still in Marathon Goal effort mode though. Pearlizumi had dropped onto my shoulder along with another participant, and the eventual female overall winner was about 5 seconds behind me. In the spirit of running my own race, I didn't want to look back, but I took a peek here and there. These first 2 miles were mainly jeep track, some single track, and a few creek beds. Just a slight uphill.
Miles 3 to 4 brought a waning pack behind me. They were slowly fading in the distance. I could only see Pearlizumi, and one other guy by the time I got to the first aid station, but they were falling off and I had a good minute or two on them. The course continued to be creek beds, and single track, with the beginning of some climbing. Here entered the organic part of the race for me. I knew that both of them had hydration on them, and I had opted not to carry a bottle. The weight as opposed to the necessity just didn't add up for me at the time. I knew I could make quick stops, and not lose much time, so that became the strategy. So in preparation, I started thinking about the 5 mile aid station and missed a turn. Well fuck. I gave up a good minute on this and Peralizumi was back within closer sight. Not what I wanted early. At this point, I had to make a decision. I knew I was in 5th place, and that I had a miles 5 to 11 of uphill coming with a few speedy descents during this period. I have a tendency to make strong climbs and I was okay with 5th place if that is how I finished at this point, so I made a bold move early. The decision was, break the two behind me in half and hope I had enough left to see what I could do about the group in front of me. I wanted to give them a little good pain to chew on.
Miles 5 through 11 were BRUTAL. I hit the gas on mile 5, up and downhill. It wasn't an amazing amount of gain, but it was enough to put a hurt on someone during a race, and that is exactly what I intended to do to Pearlizumi and his friend that was following him. I started by getting up the first ridge as fast as I could, and I recognized that I could use the ridges to hide myself. The thought process was "If I can keep gaining ground on him, the ridges will eventually hide me. If the ridges really hide me, he might begin to think I am further away than I actually am." I was trying to use the element of the unknown to wear him down. I wanted to physically spend him, and mentally demoralize him, then I could focus on potentially gaining ground on the fast footed nut cases in front of me. On the back side of 5, I knew I had dropped him a bit. It was now a game of hide and seek for me. I pushed hard mile 5 through early in mile 7, and then I let the pain loose. Coming off of a ridge into an open flat, there was a wide, open dual track that made a U shape. I saw the 4th place in front of me on the other side of the U, and glanced at my watch to calculate how far he was away (based on when I got there). I let loose on the downhill. and just let it roll to a full out sprint. By the time I hit the other side, I realized I was only 2 minutes behind 4th place, and the other 3 in front of him were nowhere to be seen. Pearlizumi was now dying on me. I saw him cresting the other side of the ridge as I was exiting the uphill on the U, and he was hurting. I could see it in his stride that he was shuffling. Now I knew I just needed to get up the steepest uphill part of the course in miles 8 though 11 and then determine what I had left for the last 10K plus. When I got to the aid station at mile 10.5, I had started doubting myself. I knew I had slowed down, but I also knew that it was a sustained uphill effort. I kept reminding myself of effort, not pace, and consistency. I needed to keep focused despite early, tired legs. I stopped for 45 seconds to take water, electrolytes, and my first Honey Stinger. In and out, I was back on my way for the last half mile of sustained uphill.
My hamstrings were starting to play with me rolling into mile 12. I knew they were on the edge of cramping, so I tried to open up my stride with every downhill. At this point, there was no one to race but myself. I didn't see Pearlizumi again until 9 minutes after I crossed the finish line (didn't know this at the time, but he was spent). I did what I had set out to do in breaking him, but now it was an effort for me not to break prematurely myself. I took 12 through 13 steady and effort based, and would occasionally get in a sprint just break the monotony of the run, and was really focusing on my breathing and making sure I had enough oxygen. It was a matter of awareness and getting through the last few miles at this point. When I hit an aid station with about 5 miles to go I took another honey stinger for good measure. It was at this point, I was informed I wasn't too far off 4th, but 1st through 3rd were a lost cause. This gave me hope as I choked down some water, and bolted out. More steady miles until I made a turn with 2 miles left. There was Masters (4th place) down in the flat below me about 2 minutes ahead. My second wind and second drop the hammer moment had begun. I felt pretty fluid but very tight as the descents were starting to wear on my quads now. My legs were definitely tired, but I kept reminding myself 2 more miles not 10 more miles like in the marathon. Masters (4th place) must have had the same second wind though as I saw him once more, and then at the finish line in front of me. He was just a little too far and a little too much for me. As I made this realization, I kept a sustained effort, but didn't kill myself. I knew 5th place was going to be it for the day.
As I turned the corner out of the park and down the road to the finish, I reflected on exactly what I had done this race and my previous trail race. Just fucking organic racing. The shell of a plan, but the ability to adapt and race the person and not the clock. There were no paces until I saw Strava later, just calculation and cerebral work controlling what my legs did. I enjoyed a chat with Jamie (he won of course, what choice did he have?) while we waited for the rest of the crew, and then had a beer with our tribe as we sat and watched the rest of the race unfold. In came G, Jackie, Taryn, and Jonathon. The 10kers in our crew had already crossed and Shelly had won second overall and first female. Very very good time, and just pure bliss. 5th overall, age group win, successful race in the books. All along with an amazing weekend with a unique and amazing tribe. The desert and mountains definitely have my attention and love.
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| Crossing |
Positive Takeaways:
Trail racing is a confirmed organic entity to me. I can have a plan, but I need to be flexible with it and roll with my gut as the race unfolds. There is no watch, just feels, intuition, and trust in my instinct.
Good to knows and Learning Experiences for Next Time:
I need to explore fuel belts and more petite water belts for shorter distances. Had I had this, I might have been able to pop up into 4th place. The little places I can shave some time off will come with experience.
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| TRPM |
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| Best Race Treat Ever |
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| Big Bend Crew Minus Taryn |
